Industry group: N.S. defence work secure

Nova Scotia’s defence industry continues to expand, despite the recent announcement that a prominent player is pulling up stakes, says the head of a provincial industry association.

Glenn Copeland, chairman of the Aerospace and Defence Industries Association of Nova Scotia, said Tuesday that Cobham Tracking & Locating Ltd.’s decision is part of the normal course of doing business.

“When the contracts aren’t there, you have to manage that accordingly,” Copeland said in an interview at the Southeastern United States-Canadian Provinces Alliance conference in Halifax.

Cobham told its employees last week that it will cease operations in Nova Scotia by the end of the year.

The tracking device company has 55 employees at its Burnside Park plant, which manufactures covert tracking devices for law enforcement agencies. The news came just weeks after Cobham closed its Windsor plant, transferring a handful of those 19 workers to the Dartmouth location.

A Virginia-based spokesman said the company, a subsidiary of Cobham plc — a British aerospace and defence firm — is relocating its operation to the United States to cut costs amid soft sales.

Copeland, a project manager with Lockheed Martin’s Nova Scotia operation, said the province’s aerospace and defence industry is “extremely healthy.”

“There are a number of companies that are coming here and wanting to settle here. Not just putting up a storefront, but setting up here to do business in Nova Scotia. We’re very much in a growth phase.”

The chairman said one positive indicator is the fact his group is growing. The association has more than 70 members, up from about 60 late last year.